I GREW up watching my father stand on his head every morning. He was doing sirsasana, a yoga pose that accounts for his youthful looks well into his 60s. Now he might have to pay a royalty to an American patent holder if he teaches the secrets of his good health to others. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued 150 yoga-related copyrights, 134 patents on yoga accessories and 2,315 yoga trademarks. There’s big money in those pretzel twists and contortions — $3 billion a year in America alone.

It’s a mystery to most Indians that anybody can make that much money from the teaching of a knowledge that is not supposed to be bought or sold like sausages. Should an Indian, in retaliation, patent the Heimlich maneuver, so that he can collect every time a waiter saves a customer from choking on a fishbone?

The Indian government is not laughing. It has set up a task force that is cataloging traditional knowledge, including ayurvedic remedies and hundreds of yoga poses, to protect them from being pirated and copyrighted by foreign hucksters. The data will be translated from ancient Sanskrit and Tamil texts, stored digitally and available in five international languages, so that patent offices in other countries can see that yoga didn’t originate in a San Francisco commune.

It is worth noting that the people in the forefront of the patenting of traditional Indian wisdom are Indians, mostly overseas. We know a business opportunity when we see one and have exported generations of gurus skilled in peddling enlightenment for a buck. The two scientists in Mississippi who patented the medicinal use of turmeric, a traditional Indian spice, are Indians. So is the strapping Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga, who has copyrighted his method of teaching yoga — a sequence of 26 poses in an overheated room — and whose lawyers sent out threatening notices to small yoga studios that he claimed violated his copyright ...

I will be spending most of tomorrow doing the ritual Mala -- 108 yoga sun salutations to commemorate the New Year. So I bet I will not be blogging much.

So in case I miss all of you, have a wonderful and peaceful 2006. Thank you to the hundreds of people who subscribe to IGS, and the thousands who read weekly and give me the get-go to keep doing this for all these years.

And yes, for all of you who have asked, I have finished the Steve Wozniak biography. It won't be in stores from WW Norton till next fall, but the big project is done.

· Its perseverent practice brings to normal misplaced vertebras and ameliorates the irrigation of the spine and of the two rows of ganglions belonging to sympatic nervous system. Thus, this asana cures many functional disorders and even organic lesions.

· The function of the thyroid and suprarenal capsules is normalised, causing benefits in certain cases of rheumatism.

By Igor Ilic
ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatian elementary school teacher Marijana Ivanovic has taken up yoga to help her relax. Nothing controversial about that, or so she thought.

"Yoga really helps recharge one's batteries and eases my lower-back pain," said Ivanovic, who has taught for more than 30 years, during the first session of a state-supported yoga program for teachers.

But her ancient oriental exercise routine is at the center of a highly charged public debate because it has fallen foul of the powerful Roman Catholic church in this overwhelmingly Catholic country. But Croatia's Catholic bishops are not impressed. In July they issued a statement protesting "an attempt to introduce yoga in the Croatian education system."

... The Croatian Bishops' Conference said the program would "make an unacceptable favor to an organization and its founder who wants to introduce Hinduistic religious practice in Croatian schools." It said everything was being done under the guise of exercise.

Tonight's yoga pose is the dramatic Uttytha Ardha Dhanurasana. (You can impress people at parties with this one.) Courtesy of Sivasakti, here are the benefits -- and the right way to do it.

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS:

From a physical point of view, this asana has all the beneficial effects of DHANURASANA. The muscular extension allows the spine to gain in flexibility. This pose is also a good preparation for the practice of DHANURASANA.

The back, legs, knees, and thighs gain in elasticity and suppleness.
Consequently, this asana is highly recommended for dancers, as it develops a sense of movement and balance.

This asana stretches and develops the muscles of the spine.
It corrects the lateral distortions of the spine. However, the people suffering of sciatica have to practice it carefully.
In cases of scoliosis, it has to be performed asymmetrically, that is: two times for correction, and one times in the opposite sense.
This asana reestablishes the mobility of the thorax. It reestablishes the breathing balance and ventilates the two lungs.
The lateral movements of the trunk stretch and fortify the abdominal muscles as well as the muscles of the hips. The abdominal muscles are fortified and strengthened.
This pose tones the muscles of the feet and the ankles, and it makes the hips and thighs more elastic.
It eases the pain in the back and neck.
It also acts efficiently in the cases of colon displacement.
It is also a relief in cases of constipation.
TRIKONASANA tones and stimulates the nerves situated in the lumbar area of the spine. This fact influences positively and directly all abdominal organs and especially the genital-uterine system.

I've been doing yoga about five nights a week -- especially in the last year -- and what a difference.

Even though it is simple, Dandasana is a serious pose for helping your back pain, stretching out your spine and getting a little energy rush. Here is a link to a yoga blog with the best way of doing this pose, and other benefits are listed below.

Excerpt: BENEFICIAL EFFECTS:

The practice of this asana makes the shoulders strong and the waist thin.

The abdominal organs are toned, the quantity of gastric secretions is greater, and the spleen and the liver are more active.

This asana cures different gastric disorders.

Displaced vertebras gradually regain their correct position.

Other beneficial effects of this asana include: physical growth in height, reaching a normal weight, and an elastic spine.

After we practice this asana, we will feel full of vigor for a fairly long time.

If there are people who have unequal length to their feet, they may reduce the difference by practicing this asana for three months, and massaging the shorter foot with sunflower oil or mustard oil, both before and after practice.

Although this asana is quite simple, even for beginners, it is nonetheless extremely beneficial.

Wonderful yoga class tonight. During the spinal twist, I felt something in my back release. Probably it is tension from writing the book.

Anyway, I found a yoga blog tonight with pictures of this pose (can you say Ardha Matsyendrasana?) and a list of why it made me feel so good.

Excerpt:
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS (Spinal Twist, pictured)

This pose stretches all the muscles and ligaments of the spine.
It prevents the abnormal curves of the spine, and in case they already exist, they will be cured through perseverant practice.
It also prevents or remedies the ossification of the fifth lumbar vertebra.
It prevents the arthritis crisis, pain in the back and even certain forms of sciatica.
Through its benefic action on the chain of sympathetic ganglions placed along the spine, this asana tones the whole organism.
Another notable effect of this asana is the rejuvenation of the physical body.
Its influence on the suprarenal glands and on the thyroid is beneficial.
The compression of the abdomen tones the inner organs, stimulates them and increases the digestive fire.
The constipation is eliminated.
This pose tones the sympathetic nervous system and refreshes the organism.